, 1887-10-18
HINTS FOR COFFEE DRINKERS.
A Leading Dealer Gives His Opinion.
Where the Beet Coffee is Raised.

'It's a curious fact, T" said one of the
veterans of the coffee trade, ''that prices
of all coffees sold in this country are based
upon the prices given for a coffee which
is never even mentioned by retail houses.
That is Brazilian. All the coffee grown
in that empire is called Rio or Santos,
after Rio Janeiro and a neighboring port.
With other coffees we make a specially of
stating where each is grown, but not with
Rios. These coffees are graded by num-
bers from l to 10 according to@their ex-
c~ellence, and the prices of other coffees
are regulated by what these fetch. The
other coffees may be roughly classified as
Javas and Central Americas, and the con-
sumption of each in this country may be
set down as Rios 5 Javas 1 1-2, Central
Americas l in relative proportion"
"How is it," asked the reporter, 'that
Rio is never named by retailers?"
There is a prejudice against it, and
millions of people are drinking il in ig-
norance who have in their i~maginations
forsworn it. How can it be otherwise
when they insist upon cheap coffee? Most
of it is sold, perhaps nearly all of it is
sold, by roasters under n firm brand.
The northwestern states, Wisconsin, Min
nesota and far off Colorado, are peculiar.
They will not touch poor or medium Rios,
and there is no trade there save in high
priced Central Americas and Javas and
the very best specialties of Rios
what do you mean by Government
Javas?"
why, the Dutch government holds
four public auction sales of coffee at Ba-
tavia, in the island of Java, during each
year, and the coffee is sold in piculs or
bags weighing 1876 pounds. AT these
sales the coffee is classified according to
the locality where it is raised, and we
wholesalers buy it as interior or Ankola,
or Aver Bangles, or Mandeling, and on
each of these occasions from 90, 900 to
$4,000 piculs are disposed of. This sys-
TEN makes the Dutch government re-
sponsible for the quality of the coffee,
and the title Government Java is there
fore a good and significant one. Java
coffee improves IN the voyage. l can
show you samples of some which were
shipped as green as so many aquamarlne
stones, and W hen we received them the
berries were of a golden color and had
rIpcned beautifully. That enhanced the
value three cents a pound.
How do you get your Java here? Do
you own the ships that bring it to this
port
w. tAiNA AoA y ~ " y NOLll-
mentary Upon our system that though
the consumption is SC large of Java it all
comes to lis in Dutch, Swedish, Nor
wegian or English sailing vessels? There
is not.a single American vessel engaged
in transporting Java coffee to this coun-
try. CeylOn coffee we don't use, for the
bad kind Is not worth having and the
good kind is monopolized by the Eng
lish, and very costly it is. What Mocha
we use comes to us through English
sources. Our flag is hardly known in
eastern waters today. l may tell you
that we wh are in the business have not
a very high opinion of Mocha. Some
people are crazy about it, but we think
that a matter of pure sentiment, and
believe that Mocha obtained its reputa-
ton by Icing the first coffee brought to
Europe. 1t has all the appearance of
being II wild berry, and our experts say
that it cannot be distinguished from the
wild coffee of Hayti. This, no doubt, is
awful heresy, but that's the way coffee
men look at it. In the northwestern
states now, where there seems to be a
singular appreciation of really good
coffee, there is no demand for Mocha"
(Which do you prefer?'
LAS n general thing l like the flavor of
Java, which is very pleasing and full of
aroma and is soft and smooth to the pal
ate, leaving nc after taste in the mouth.
Rios are strong and coarse and bitter, and
leave a somewhat muddy after taste,
which no doubt comes from the Brazilian
coffee plantations being on low lands.
Costa RiCa is fine i'll flavor and excellent
in aroma, but it caves an aSid flavor in
the mouth. The Guatemala Coffees are
very superior and are making their way
among cOnnoisseurs They are about on
a par with the Laguayra coffee from the
neighborhood of Caracas. There is n
grade of Laguavra which comes from the
noighborhood of Puerto Cabello and is by
no means so fine. The great expectation
OF Venezuelan coffee, however, is from
the Maracaibo region and this is full of
aroma but rougher than Caracas, and it
leaves somewhat of a disagreeable after
taste, at least some does, that probably
which is raised upon low lands. You may
lay this down rs a law, that the higher
the elevation at which coffee is grown,
the finer it is in every way"
(Which is the coffee that is grown at
the highest elevation?'
Il should not wonder if the highest
coffee plantations were found to be on the
slopes of the Himalayas in India, but that
very fine grade of English coffee does not
come to us. We have, however, some
grown in the neighborhood of Bogota in
Ecuador at an elevation of 5000 feet
above the level of the sea, and it is eX-
quisite to look at, exquisite to smell and
exquisite ito drink. The berries are a
bright green, transparent and waxy, and
Of remarkable uniformity of size. Some
of this coffee goes down a river near Bo-
gotta and comes to Panama by sea, but
some of it is packed on the backs of bur
ros or small hardy donkeys, not mules,
and is carried over the mountains by land
to Panama. Each burro carries two bags
weighing fifty pounds each, and pursues
its path through awfully precipitous roads
with c~heerfulness and diligence. l was
down in that part of the world, and is
seemed to me that the donkey was far
ahead of the mule for mountain work"
New York Tribune.